The Hunger Games
by boylikeme
Summary: Sue Sylvester has risen to power and thought of a cruel and deadly way to show the world how Glee clubs turned their members into weak and helpless beings.   The Hunger Games but noone from the books is going to show up so I did not mark it a crossover
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING: very different from my other story!**

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><p>Sue Sylvester's rise to power had been fast and mind riveting. One day she had been a very successful cheerleading coach, the next she was the governor of Ohio. Her campaign had promised to rid all of the state's schools of their arts programmes, that only turned children into weak and whiny freaks and for some reason most of the population had agreed with her. The idea was already spreading like a wildfire, many states promising to follow Ohio's example. Her speeches were still as compelling as her little segments on local television had been. People followed her blindly. Very few tried to oppose her, most of them were men and women who had earned their living with arts, like Will Schuester or Holly Holiday and their resistance had soon been broken.. Shelby Corcoran had fled the state when there had still been the chance. Sue had closed that little loophole soon, now all the borders were guarded and fenced. No one got in or out without her consent.<p>

Sue's power was endless, her enemies utterly defeated. Will Schuester? Nothing but a sorry, drunken excuse of a man nowadays. Yet she did not feel like she had achieved her ultimate goal. She wanted a state where no child would even consider picking up a crayon, tapping their feet or humming a song - and the newly elected president had just given her the green light for her most vicious plan.

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><p>The Hummel-Hudson family had gathered in front of the living room television, awaiting the newest government announcement. Watching the statements was absolutely mandatory, missing one would result in severe punishment.<p>

"What do you think it is going to be?" Finn wondered.

"Probably yet another law." Carole replied.

Burt winced, they had arrested one of his employees just at the beginning of the week, someone had reported the father of three for whistling during a job. It had come close to having the tire shop shut down for good.

"There's probably a new forbidden colour for shoelaces." Kurt tried to sound sarcastic, but since it was actually a possibility he only sounded scared and bitter.

The government seal appeared on their screen, shortly followed by Sue Sylvester's face and the family went silent.

"Good Morning, citizens of Ohio." the woman said far too cheerily. "It is my pleasure to inform you of a new and exciting event that will be coming up."

"Football?" Finn whispered.

Kurt raised an eyebrow in reply, but chose to say nothing.

"As you all know I have recently freed our wonderful state of the horrible oppression that was performing arts." the blonde woman on screen continued. "We have all suffered long enough listening to self-proclaimed divas on mindless casting shows. And do you remember where it all started? Right, in our own schools. In those horrible glee clubs!"

Kurt and Finn exchanged another look. This could not be good.

"That's why I have come up with the idea to remind our state of what glee clubs have done to our children. How they have turned them into weak, lazy freaks who can't survive on their own and end up living off what our decent citizens worked hard for to earn."

Sue looked directly into the camera and smiled a creepy smile.

"Citizens of Ohio, I present to you: The Hunger Games!"

A huge banner was revealed behind the governor.

"Ohio had a disgusting number of twelve actively competing glee clubs, right at this moment members of those clubs are being picked up and taken to their respective schools. At each school a boy and a girl from the club will be chosen to take part as tributes in the Hunger Games. They will be placed in an arena with the other tributes and we will all be able to watch them fight each other to the death. The last remaining tribute will be rewarded accordingly."

The family was paralyzed in front of the screen that was now flashing the twelve glee club names. McKinley High's New Directions almost burned itself into their retinas. Before they could move, before they could even think of fleeing the screeching of tires was heard and uniformed men stormed the house. They were still too shocked to fight or scream when they were hauled into a van and taken to the school.

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><p>At McKinley High they were taken to the school's gymnasium, where Burt and Carole were separated from their sons. Kurt and Finn were taken to a special roped off section in the front.<p>

"I should go, I am older." Finn whispered.

"Only by a few months." Kurt replied, sure that Finn did not even understand what he was offering.

Rachel was already standing between the red ropes, crying violently. Mercedes was trying to comfort her, but she was looking just as shaken. Puck and Quinn were holding onto each other like they were drowning.

"Shouldn't parents be excused from this?" the blonde girl asked hopefully.

Nobody replied, nobody dared to remind her that her daughter was away, safe with her adoptive mother. Nobody could form the words.

"What's happening?" Brittany asked confused.

Nobody had an answer for her. Was this even real? Were they standing here, waiting to hear who would be sent to certain death?

Artie pulled the blonde cheerleader onto his lap and softly stroked her hair. Mike was holding Tina as close as he could. Sam went to hug Mercedes, after Finn had reached for Rachel and pulled her into his arms.

"I knew I should've never joined this club" Lauren Zizes said.

Santana only snorted and it caused all of them to giggle hysterically.

The gymnasium turned quiet as Sue Sylvester and her assistant Becky Jackson entered the stage. Of course this would be the school she made her personal appearance. This reaping of tributes was broadcast live, while the ones in the other schools would only be aired as compromised reports afterwards.

"Dear citizens, I am standing here in front of you, at my old school, to present to you Ohio's very first Hunger Games."

As everyone in the building was either a prospective death candidate or the sibling or parent of one, nobody cheered. Sue still paused like she was waiting for the applause to end, they were probably adding the sound digitally.

"Today we are going to pick one boy and one girl from each glee club to compete in our wonderful games."

She gave a list of the twelve clubs, names like Aural Intensity and Vocal Adrenaline ringing bells with everyone, others were completely unknown. She told them that the Jane Adams girl tribute would be paired with a boy from a school called Dalton Academy as both clubs consisted of just one gender.

"Of course we do not want these children to enter our games without guidance, so each pairing will be issued a mentor. May I introduce to you New Directions' mentor William Schuester!"

Some of the kids gasped as a very drunk Will staggered on stage. He clearly had not shaven or taken a shower in weeks and they could only guess how much he must reek of alcohol.

"Well, he's gonna be useful." Santana whispered sarcastically.

"As our very own good luck charm Emma Pillsbury is now going to pull the names of our victors from our bowls."

A very unhappy looking Emma entered the stage, trying to avoid the eyes of the teenagers. She stopped in front of two bowls, each equipped with notes that surely held the names of the glee club members.

"Ladies first." Sue said with a smile.

Emma reached into the bowl on the right, everybody in the room held their breath as she looked at the note and read the first name:

"Brittany S. Pierce."

There was a muffled cry from a woman in the back, who must have been Brittany's mother.

"No!" gasped Artie, holding onto the sweet girl in his lap.

"Come up on stage Brittany!" Sue called.

Brittany stood up and began walking towards the stage, clearly still not understanding what was happening. Before she could reach the few steps another cry echoed through the gymnasium.

"No! Stop! No!" Santana was running towards the stage. "I volunteer! I volunteer!" she cried.

Everyone looked at the two girls clinging to each other and then at Sue Sylvester. A sinister grin spread across the woman's face.

"I'll allow it. Come on up, sandbags!" she pulled the latina close. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you New Direction's girl tribute: Santana M. Lopez."

Sobbing was heard from the back where the parents stood. Kurt briefly wondered if it was Brittany's mother sobbing with relief or Santana's mother crying for her daughter.

"Okay, now for our tribute boy." Sue nodded to Emma.

It seemed to take the ginger woman forever to pick a note and open it with her shaking fingers.

"Kurt E. Hummel." she read.

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><p><em>AN: What do you think? Continue?<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the reviews!_

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><p>The silence that followed the announcement of his name was almost suffocating, for a short, peaceful moment Kurt thought that time stood still, that some greater power had noticed the injustice happening here and had put an end to it. There were no sobs to be heard this time, Carole probably being far too relieved that it was not her own son's name being called. The boy wondered about his dad. Could this give him another heart attack? He did not dare turn around, knowing it would break both of them to look into each other's eyes right now.<p>

"Please join us on stage, Porcelain." Sue Sylvester called.

Kurt had to move past Finn who was resembling a fish out of water at the moment, mouth opening and closing soundlessly, too shocked to move or speak. Kurt did not blame him, he had never expected him to volunteer. He avoided eye contact with any of the other glee kids, ignoring the soft touch of some fingertips ghosting over his arm. Was it Mercedes? Or maybe Brittany? He did not want to see their eyes, afraid of what he might see. Would it be shock or relief? He slowly made his way to the stage.

Sue congratulated him, but he barely made out her words. Was he supposed to thank her? Take pride in being a chosen one? The first thing he truly registered was Santana's hand in his, squeezing tightly. He looked at her, the only person who knew how he felt, for a second he felt a deep connection - and then he realised that they would be expected to kill each other soon.

They were forced to pose for some photographers, but were both far too stunned to answer any of the few reporter's questions. Before anyone had grasped what had happened they were ushered backstage. They were separated and taken to different classrooms, Kurt found himself in the old choir room.

"You will be able to say goodbye to your family in a few minutes." someone told him and then he was alone.

He looked around the room that was so familiar and yet looked so different. All of the glee club's trophies had been removed, as well as the piano, a couple of treadmills were standing in its place. In place of their little trophy cabinet now hung a huge portrait of governor Sylvester. Kurt caught his reflection in the glass. Was this really what he looked like right now? His face had an almost haunted expression and he was even paler than usual. He ran his fingers over his clothes, wishing he had chosen to wear something different that morning, but how was he supposed to know that he was going to be a celebrity by nightfall. One of the twelve most famous teenagers in the entire state, maybe even the whole nation.

Kurt heard a muffled sob coming from the door and turned around. Carole was standing there, her hands covering her mouth, tears staining her face, her whole figure was trembling hard and the boy regretted thinking she would have been relieved instantly.

"Oh, baby!" she cried and flung herself into his arms.

Kurt hugged her close, whishing they had not given him this moment, he did not feel strong enough to comfort his family, after all he was the one being sent to death.

"Dude…" Finn started from behind his mother but did not know what to say.

"It's okay." Kurt said, but he felt like he was going to be violently sick at any second. "Finn, please…" he started looking at his stepbrother.

"I promise. I'll take care of him." Finn said without waiting for his brother to finish the sentence.

"Thank you." Kurt mouthed.

"This is not fair. They can't do this. They have no right." Carole kept chanting in her stepson's arms.

"Your dad is just talking to some of the officials." Finn said, stroking his neck awkwardly.

Kurt could picture that talk and could only hope that his dad was not getting himself arrested. He worried about the man giving himself another heart attack again. He could not allow himself to go there right now, he could not lose it, he had to stay strong for them, just for a few more minutes. He willed himself to go numb and just stroke Carol's arms mechanically. It worked until he heard someone clear his voice in the door. He looked up and saw his father standing there.

"Kiddo…" Burt Hummel started.

"Dad." before the man could react his son was flying across the room and threw himself into his arms. "I'm so sorry, daddy! I'm so sorry!" the boy sobbed.

"This is not your fault, son. This is not your fault."

"We will give you some privacy." Carole said, dragging Finn out of the room.

Kurt sobbed when he realised this was probably the last time he ever saw either of them. Burt Hummel lifted his son into his arms and carried him over to the leftover choir room chairs. He sat down and rocked his child like he had not done since the day his first wife had passed away almost ten years ago.

Kurt did not know how long it took him to calm down, but eventually he was all out of tears and just held onto his father, breathing deeply, trying to inhale as much of the man's scent as possible. Both men knew there was nothing left to say. Nothing would change what was happening or offer any sort of comfort to either of them. A man appeared in the doorway, signalling that it was time for them to part.

"Just one second." Burt said before focussing back on his son. "You got to promise me something, kiddo. Can you do that?"

Kurt still did not trust himself to speak so he only nodded.

"Promise me you will do anything you can to make it out of there alive. Promise me you will try your hardest to return to me."

The man gave his son a stern look, drowning himself in the beautiful eyes that looked so much like the boy's mother's.

"I promise." Kurt croaked, his voice breaking.

"And now with conviction " Burt said.

Kurt took a deep breath, trying to steel himself for just one last minute. He stood up and looked at the man that had raised and protected him for all of his life.

"I promise." he said firmly.

"Thanks kiddo." Burt replied before his son was taken away from him.

Kurt was led outside and ordered to climb into a large limousine, where he was reunited with Santana. The latina had obviously been crying and was hastily wiping at her face.

"Like you're gonna be able to tell me you were all brave in there, Hummel." she hissed when she caught the boy looking at her.

Kurt almost had to laugh at the familiarity and normality the sound provided. They shared a look and then both started giggling hysterically.

"Kids, I don't think you should be laughing right now. " Emma said when she entered the car.

"And what should we be doing?" both teens asked in unison.

The woman had no reply to that so she chose to stare at her shoes instead.

"I'm really sorry for throwing up on you that one time." Kurt said, he had no idea where it came from, but he felt like he needed to say it.

"It's okay." the ginger woman whispered.

A drunken Will Schuester staggered to the limousine and joined them, almost instantly passing out. The doors were slammed shut and the car turned into motion.

"Where are they taking us?" Santana asked, all the sassiness gone from her voice.

"To a hotel." Emma supplied in her now almost trademark hushed tone. "You will meet the other tributes and receive a week of training. There will probably be more press photographs and interviews, too."

Kurt wanted to ask her how she had gotten involved in all this, what they had used to blackmail her into it, he was sure she was not here voluntarily, but then he noticed the look on her face as she was watching the unconscious Will. He chose not to say anything, instead he reached for Santana's hand and was glad when the girl allowed him to hold it.

The drive took quite a long time, so they were sure they were not in Lima anymore when the car finally stopped in front of a very expensive looking hotel. They got out and stared at the large building, it must have belonged to some kind of resort, as there were no other businesses to be seen, only a golf course and some tennis and basketball courts. There were helicopters hovering over the complex and Kurt wondered if they were there to keep them in or other people out. Maybe it was the press, or even some of the other tributes arriving.

Inside they were ushered into a luxurious looking lounge. A waiter approached them offering champagne and orange juice. Will and Emma both chose the champagne but the two teens were only allowed the orange juice. They both snorted, apparently they were old enough to kill or be killed, but still not old enough to try alcohol.

Kurt looked around, not all of the other tributes had arrived yet, but he already recognized a few. He gave an awkward little nod to Sunshine Corazon who was standing together with the other Vocal Adrenaline and Aural Intensity tributes, the boy briefly wondered when the two groups had become friends. The two tributes from Haverbrook were standing in a corner signing rapidly to each other, Kurt felt like he was intruding after watching them for a minute. He looked around again, catching the eye of a boy in what seemed to be a dishevelled private school uniform. The boy had messy, curly, black hair and beautiful hazel eyes, under different circumstances Kurt would have thought of him as cute, but he did not think that would be appropriate now. Still he could not help but stare at the stranger, blushing when the boy gave him a weak smile. He was the only tribute who was standing on his own and Kurt felt sorry for him. He decided that he must be the tribute from the all boys choir.

"Hello and welcome, my dear tributes!" Sue Sylvester's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I'm sorry for not being here when you arrived, but my helicopter got held up."

So she had flown in while Kurt had inhaled Will Schuester's alcoholic breath in the car for hours.

"If you want to you can mingle down here for a little longer, but some of you might be relieved to hear that your rooms are ready for you now."

Kurt decided to go up to his room, he did not feel like socialising with people that were going to be trying to murder him very soon, even if some of them were really cute. His room was big and looked really expensive. Under different circumstances Kurt would have taken the time to admire the decor. He imagined this was the kind of room Anna Wintour would stay in if Ohio had its own fashion week. He had dreamed of himself being the reason for such an event some day. He sighed and decided to take a long hot shower. When he returned to the bedroom he was glad to discover that someone hat left a pair of silk pyjamas on the bed for him, he had already forgotten that he had no luggage at all.

He dropped down on the bed and tried to will himself to go to sleep, but his mind was racing, every time he closed his eyes he saw his father's face, Carole's tears, Finn…

Kurt groaned and sat up, for the first time noticing the television on the opposite wall. Were they really kind enough to offer him this kind of distraction? The boy turned it on and soon realised that all of the channels were showing the exact same thing, a report on the different reapings at all the schools. He was just about to turn the television off when a voice announced that the next school was Dalton Academy. It was explained that since this was an all boys school only one tribute from there glee club would be chosen, the other one would come from the Jane Adams Academy. Kurt briefly wondered what it must feel like to go through this alone. Even the little comfort that Santana had been able to offer him had managed to keep him sane so far. He scanned the assembled students for the boy he had seen downstairs, but he could not find him until his name was called.

"Blaine Anderson." the voice said.

The boy stepped forward and Kurt almost did not recognize him. His uniform was clean and showed no wrinkles, his hair was styled perfectly, no sign of the messy curls under the thick layer of gel. Kurt gasped when the boy's eyes caught the camera, it almost felt like they had made eye contact again. He quickly turned off the television and tried to go to sleep. It was a restless night, his father's voice and Carole's tears haunting him.

"Promise me, kiddo." he heard over and over.

And again and again he found himself looking into a pair of hazel eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for the reviews!_

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><p>When Kurt woke up there was no blissful moment of ignorance. Even before he opened his eyes he knew exactly where he was. The sheets felt different on his skin and the room did not smell like home. He groaned as the memories of the previous day rushed through his head. He wanted to at least pretend that it was not real, that this had not really happened to him, so he kept his eyes closed tightly, shutting the world out.<p>

He did not know how long he had been lying there when he suddenly heard a noise. Startled he opened his eyes and sat up quickly. He noticed a figure crouching down at the foot of his bed and as the person lifted their head and looked at him his blood seemed to freeze in his veins.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt screamed. "Get out! Get the hell out!"

At the foot of his bed stood none other than Dave Karofsky. Kurt wrestled with the sheets trying to free himself, when he finally succeeded he jumped up and stood on top of the bed with his back to the wall.

"I told you to get out! Why are you here? Did you come here to see me suffer? Or are you afraid that somebody else will get to kill me?"

Karofsky took a step towards the bed, pointing at something to the side, but all Kurt saw was the bully approaching him.

"HELP!" he screamed. "Somebody help me!"

The door opened and both Emma and Will ran into the room. If Kurt had not been so full of fear he might have wondered if the two had come from the same room.

"What's going on?" Will mumbled, clearly hung over.

"I'm being attacked!" Kurt screeched.

"Please calm down." Emma replied.

"Calm down? I got one week left before I'm thrown into an arena to be killed and I just woke up to find a person who has threatened to kill me before next to my bed!"

"Kurt, look at him. He's not here to hurt you."

The boy wanted to reply something bitchy or sarcastic, but he actually took a few seconds to survey the jock. Dave Karofsky looked very different from when he had last seen him, he had obviously lost a lot of weight and looked pale. The most significant difference was in his posture though. David stood with slumped shoulders, his gaze directed at the floor.

"I don't understand." Kurt mumbled. "What's he doing here?"

"He's our servant. I guess Governor Sylvester thought it would be funny to bring you two together like this."

Kurt's memory briefly took him back to the moment the two boys had sat in the principal's office with their fathers. David had been forced to apologise for his threats and they had stayed away from each other as much as possible after that. Nobody had ever learned about the kiss.

"Why would he be our servant?" he asked confused. "And why isn't he talking?"

Kurt tried to remember when he had last seen the other boy, it must have been weeks ago. He looked at Dave, but the jock refused to meet his eye. Emma moved over to him and gently touched his arm, Dave flinched and moved away.

"This is his punishment." the ginger woman sighed.

Kurt looked at both of them, still not understanding what was going on.

"David was caught singing in the school showers. Some of the hockey players reported him." Emma looked at Karofsky again, hesitating to continue, but the boy made no move. "They cut out his tongue and sentenced him to the life of an Avox - a silent servant."

Kurt gasped, he could not believe what he was hearing. How could anyone even think of something so cruel? Okay, so there might have been a time right after the kiss in the locker room where he had thought of cutting Karofsky's tongue out himself, but he would have never actually done it. He looked at the broken boy in front of him, wondering how he could have been so scared of him just one minute ago.

"I'm sorry." he said.

Dave kept looking at the floor, his whole body was shaking but he did not even acknowledge the fact Kurt spoke to him..

"He is not allowed to communicate with us." Emma said. "He's only allowed to take orders and serve."

Only now did Kurt notice the tray on the small desk by the window. Dave Karofsky had been serving him coffee when he panicked, he had probably even been the one who had laid out the pyjamas for him the night before. He did not know what to say.

"You may go." Emma told Dave and the boy quickly exited the room.

Kurt watched the other boy leave, not knowing what to say or do. He was surprised when Will Schuester spoke up.

"Take a shower and get dressed, we will meet down the hall in half an hour." the former choir director said, before leaving.

In spite of having had a shower before bed the previous night Kurt allowed the spray of hot water to comfort him again. He took his time brushing his teeth and combing his hair, missing all of his products to style it with and finally stepped back into the room. This time there were no clothes waiting for him on his bed, but the outfit he had worn the day before had mysteriously disappeared. He frowned and looked around the room, noticing the small closet next to the bathroom door. He opened it to find his clothes for the day inside.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he said as he took in the hideous red track suit.

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><p>Dressed like a very unhappy Sue Sylvester impersonator he made his way to the end of the hall. Will, Emma and Santana, dressed in an identical track suit, were already waiting for him.<p>

"You look like shit." the two teens said to each other simultaneously.

Will sighed and shook his head.

"Okay, let's start with that. You got to start watching what you say. You can be sure that your every step is being monitored and you do not want to provoke Sue Sylvester." he said.

"And what's she gonna do? Sentence us to death? Cause she's already done that in case you were too drunk to notice." Santana snapped.

"She can still make things more difficult for you - and for your families."

The mention of their loved ones made the teenagers look down. They had not thought of that. They thought they had nothing left to lose.

A very rich breakfast was served to them by their two servants, a girl they did not know and Dave Karofsky. Kurt watched Santana glance at Dave, she looked sad but not shocked, so he wondered if she had already known. He would have to ask her about it later.

"Eat." Will's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Kurt eyed the toast, pancakes, muffins, eggs, beans, sausages and bacon suspiciously.

"Do you know how much fat is in all that? Do you want to give us heart attacks?"

Will sighed, obviously annoyed by his tributes' snappy remarks.

"There's a big fucking chance you won't be served regular meals while you're in the arena, so if I were you I'd take whatever the hell I can get now! You might be fucking starving or freezing in a week and all these calories just might make a difference!"

The two teens looked shocked at the man's outburst, they had never heard him swear before and he sounded almost sober, something he probably had not been in a while, judging by his trembling hands. They loaded their plates with food and began to eat.

"You will be taken down to training in a little while. We don't know what they will teach you, but anything could be relevant for the arena, so try and learn as much as possible." Emma said. "They will ask if you got any special skills, anything you are really good at and that might be useful next week."

"Promise us you won't say you can sing, dance or play an instrument." Will snorted.

"Do you have any useful skills?" Emma asked hopefully.

"I'm really fast." Santana said.

"Good. That's good." Emma tried to sound enthusiastic, but did not quite succeed. "Kurt?"

The boy thought about it for a minute.

"I'm very flexible - like all cheerios." he said looking at Santana. "I'm good at hiding and climbing things."

"Okay. Anything that might be useful in a fight?"

"I took some self-defence classes:" the latina tried.

Will looked like he was about to hit his head on the table.

"I can handle sai swords." Kurt added.

"You what?"

"Sai swords, like what Electra and the ninja turtles had. I can use those."

"Can you throw them? Or stab someone?"

"Uhm… I mostly just twirl them."

Will groaned.

"Okay. It's time to go downstairs." Emma said. "You will get to practice different things at different places throughout the resort. Try everything. If you find something you're really good at, don't practice it too much, don't let the other tributes know. Your last day of training will be private. Practice it then."

"Don't give out any information to the other tributes, but at the same time try and remember everything you can about them." Will continued.

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><p>Kurt felt nervous as they were being taken downstairs and judging by the slightly green tinge to Santana's face she was not feeling any different. They were taken to a huge gymnasium, where the other tributes were waiting, all of them in equally hideous track suits. Each team had gotten a different colour, so it was easy to spot who belonged with whom. Kurt noticed the Dalton boy in a navy track suit. Damn, even that ugly thing looked good on him. He looked very lost and lonely again, under different circumstances Kurt might have approached him.<p>

They were given a brief introduction by a tall, bulky man, like Emma he told them to give each of the training stations a go. Each station was manned by one or two instructors to help them and the teens quickly spread around the gym to learn. Kurt discovered he enjoyed the distraction this offered. He also learned that he was really good at camouflaging and tying knots. There was a station for knife throwing, but he decided to avoid that for now.

While Santana was busy climbing a wall that he had already conquered a few minutes ago, he looked around for a new task. He noticed an open door to his right and could not suppress the sudden urge of wanting to be outside.

"What's out there?" he asked a guard by the door.

"Some of the stations didn't fit in here or were simply too dangerous to be indoors." the man answered. "You may try them."

Kurt gave a brief nod and stepped outside. He took a deep breath, he was not normally an outdoor kind of person , but right now he was enjoying the fresh air and the warm feeling of the sun on his face. It felt like he had been trapped inside forever. There was a swimming pool to his right and a few more stations to the left. None of them were occupied. Was he the first to have found his way out here?

He approached a station where the instructor was standing holding a crossbow. He thought he might as well give it a go. He listened to the instructions and aimed for the target in deep concentration - and missed. He missed every single time.

"Wow. I suck." he mumbled.

Suddenly someone was standing really close behind him, pressing against his back.

"You're not holding it right. Let me help you."

Warm arms reached around him, guiding his own and the bow.

"Now." the voice whispered, warm breath tickling his ear.

He let the arrow fly. It did not hit bulls eye, but it did hit the target, which was a huge improvement.

Kurt turned around, expecting to see the instructor, but instead he looked into a pair of beautiful hazel eyes


	4. Chapter 4

Kurt's breath caught in his throat and even after clearing his voice twice he was not able to speak. He was about to panic about making a fool of himself when he felt the other boy chuckle. Oh my God! He could feel t him chuckle - feel - not hear. He found himself blushing so hard he thought he was going to faint from the sudden heat to his head.

"Th-thanks." he whispered.

"I'm Blaine." the other boy replied.

"K-Kurt." he stuttered, cursing himself for not being able to play it cool.

"Hummel!" Santana's voice called out.

The two boys jumped apart, both looking like they had been caught at something forbidden. Kurt wondered why the other boy looked so guilty.

"Can you come and help me with something over here?" the girl called.

"Sure."

Kurt looked at Blaine and shrugged before walking towards his team mate.

"See you, Kurt." the Dalton boy said, looking a little sad.

Kurt could tell Santana was angry when he approached her, he thought that if they were characters in a cartoon or comic book she would surely have steam coming out of her ears.

"Ouch!" he yelped when she grabbed his arm.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?" she hissed.

"I was just talking to Blaine." he replied.

"Blaine?" Santana rolled her eyes at the name.

"Yes, I don't see anything wrong with that name. And I don't see why we shouldn't be friendly with other people, Mr. Schuester said that we should try and find stuff out about them."

"And what exactly were you trying to find out about 'Blaine', Hummel? Cause the way you were pressed up against him I can only guess it was the size of his cock."

Kurt gasped and blushed even harder.

"We are supposed to find out their strengths and their weaknesses. And unless you are planning on sucking his brains out in the arena I don't see how your little flirt is supposed to help you when you're expected to kill him next week."

Kill him. Oh God! The latina was right. He would be expected to kill Blaine in less than a week, or be killed by him. He could not make friends here. He could not trust people. And even if their intentions were pure, how could he get attached to someone who was sentenced to death, just like him.

The shock of this realization must have shown on his face, because Santana's expression softened immediately.

"Come on, it is almost time for lunch." she wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulder and he allowed her to lead him away. Neither of them noticed the curly-haired boy who was still watching them.

They chose to have lunch in their quarters instead of downstairs in the large dining room with the other tributes. Ms. Pillsbury and Mr. Schuester were mysteriously absent so it was just the two of them eating in silence. Kurt could not help watching Karofsky clear their plates, he still could not believe that this was the same boy who used to terrify him so much.

"Stop staring." Santana hissed.

"I'm not…" he started, but stopped when he realized she was right. He watched the other boy leave the room and leaned closer to the girl to whisper "Did you know?"

"That you're an idiot? Yes!"

Kurt suppressed the urge to kick her under the table.

"I mean about Ka- Dave."

"About his huge gay crush on you? Yes, I knew."

"No, I mean… Wait.. What?"

"Oh, come on! Like it wasn't completely obvious! The way he was pining over you all the time."

"Pining? He wasn't pining over me. He was bullying me!"

"Same thing." Santana shrugged, putting on her best bitch face.

Karofsky and the Avox girl returned at that moment to serve the desert. Santana and Kurt stayed quiet until they left again.

"He was making my life a living hell." Kurt continued, looking down at his plate.

"Well, then you must be really happy now."

Kurt looked up shocked at the girl's comment.

"I would never wish this on anybody." he whispered.

Santana shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. There's good people out there wishing for terrible things and there's a lot of people who are looking forward to seeing us slaughtered next week."

They both pushed away their plates after that comment, having completely lost their appetites.

Emma and Will appeared shortly afterwards wanting to hear about their morning at training. They both told them about the different stations they had been training at, but nothing else, Kurt was glad Santana did not mention his encounter with the Dalton tribute.

"Good." Will said. "This afternoon you will get some training of a different kind: media presentation."

"Huh?" both teens were confused.

"The press has been interviewing the families so far. Tomorrow they will interview the tributes, they want a lot of material to be shown before and during the shows."

"And to use for our obituaries?" the latina snorted.

Emma blushed and looked down.

"Kurt, you'll train with Ms. Pillsbury. Santana, you're with me."

"Oh great." the girl rolled her eyes, clearly not happy at being paired with the drunk.

The groups split up and went to separate rooms to start the training, Kurt wondered why he had not been paired with the former choir teacher, but one look at Emma's face gave him his answer, the ginger woman was obviously scared of the sassy cheerleader.

'Of course' he thought 'Nobody is afraid of me'

"Kurt, let me say one important thing first: Nobody is afraid of you."

Wait -what? Did guidance counselors learn how to read minds?

"Uhm… thanks? I don't see how that's important right now though"

"It is very important. You need to use it. They are not afraid of you, which means they will very likely underestimate you. That could be an advantage. Don't let them see any of your special skills during training. Don't let them see the fierce guy we both know you really are. It might make the difference - it might help save your life."

Kurt looked into those big brown eyes that reminded him so much of Bambi. He had underestimated her, and he knew she was right, others would underestimate him. If he were one of the other tributes, he would target Santana first, get rid of the threat and deal with the weak little gay boy later.

"Thanks." he whispered to the woman, who only nodded and smiled.

For the next few hours Kurt learned how to answer questions without really giving anything away. Surprisingly this was a lot more tiring than the training they had done in the morning and he soon found himself with a major headache. He was relieved when it was time for dinner and they met up with Santana and Mr. Shue again. The girl looked just as tired as Kurt and kept rubbing her temples, so they all decided to call it an early night.

In his room, the boy found that his bed had been made and the pajamas had already been laid out for him. He felt weird knowing it was Dave Karofsky who was doing this for him. He suddenly realized just how exhausted he was and crawled into bed. He still decided to check the television for some report of the games. If the families had been interviewed he might be able to catch a glimpse of his Dad, Carol and Finn, it already felt like ages since he had last seen them and he missed them and worried about them. Their was a brief report about the tributes' training, Kurt even caught a glimpse of himself and Blaine, wondering where the cameras had been hidden, but when the reporter introduced the family interviews the screen went black. Of course they would not allow them to see that. He sighed. Maybe it was better this way, he did not know how he would have reacted if he had seen his family.

And Kurt would have surely lost the will to go on if he had seen the broken man his father had become in just a day, the man who had cried on television while he was supposed to make a nation believe how proud he was that his son had been chosen as one of the tributes.

Instead the boy fell asleep dreaming of a hazel-eyed boy and the way it had felt to feel him chuckle while pressed up close to him.


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry for the long wait!_

* * *

><p>The next few days Kurt tried to concentrate on the training and not let the fact that he missed his family so much it hurt or his conflicting thoughts about Karofsky and most importantly the handsome Dalton tribute distract him. He stuck close to Santana and only allowed his eyes to search for the dark-haired boy when he was sure that nobody was watching him. More often than not he found the other teen looking at him too, it almost became a little ritual, Blaine would smile and Kurt would blush and look away, just to repeat it all after a short while.<p>

"Fucking concentrate, Hummel!" Santana would hiss whenever she caught him.

They learned a lot about the other tributes by keeping an eye on them during the training hours and also watching their interviews. It looked like not all of them had been instructed not to give anything away like the two McKinley students had been. The tributes from Carmel High and two other schools were boasting about how proud they were to have been chosen, it made Kurt sick. He knew Sunshine was not proud at all, he had watched her during the training hours and she seemed to be just as sad and scared as the rest of them. He did however suspect that some of the tributes had been prepared for the reaping, there was no way they could be this good at a lot of the tasks without practicing them beforehand.

Will Schuester had told them his theory about how some of the schools had been warned by Sue, they had had the time to train their chosen tributes and had manipulated the drawing of their names. Carmel High was definitely one of them. Will also thought Dalton might be involved in the scam, the private school certainly had the money to influence things, but nobody thought their tribute looked very much prepared. Kurt wondered if Blaine was a really good actor. Apart from archery and a task where they had to jump from platform to platform and were not allowed to touch the ground, he did not seem to be very talented in anything and he kept away from the other tributes, except for Kurt. A lot of people had noticed by now. Whenever Kurt dropped something, Blaine was there to pick it up, whenever Kurt tripped Blaine was there to catch him. It had earned them quite a few snickers and whispers so far.

"I see McKinley has chosen its allies." a voice startled Kurt right after the Dalton boy had gently pulled him out of the hallway before he could be hit by a cart full of desserts, which a servant was rushing to the dining room.

Kurt turned to look at the intruder and groaned.

"Jesse St. James."

Will had told them that the former Vocal Adrenaline lead was now the mentor of the Carmel tributes, but this was the first time they ran into each other.

"Carmel only wanted the best mentor for its students, much unlike McKinley." Jesse praised himself.

"I don't think they will give us eggs to use as weapons in the arena." Kurt replied.

"Who knows." Jesse said and winked at Kurt before he left.

Kurt wanted to kick something but then he noticed that Blaine was still gently holding on to his elbow.

"Hey." he whispered.

"Hey." the other boy replied just as softly, his eyes reminding Kurt of melting caramel fudge.

Before either of them could say anything else Kurt was pulled away by a very angry looking Santana.

"Mr. Schue's looking for us." she said, dragging him into an elevator.

Kurt managed a small wave towards Blaine before the elevator doors closed. He had watched Blaine's interview the night before. The boy had seemed so calm and reserved. He had spoken about missing his fellow Warbler's, but not once had he mentioned his family. Kurt wondered who was missing Blaine back home and if maybe he had a boyfriend. Not that he cared, no it definitely did not matter to him. He could not even be sure if the other boy was gay, although everyone seemed to agree that he was openly flirting with him.

When they arrived upstairs Will and Emma were waiting for them in front of a large tv screen.

"They're showing your interviews tonight." they explained.

"Oh." Kurt mumbled. He had kind of hoped they had forgotten all about them, all the other interviews had already been shown.

"I wonder why they kept us for last." Santana voiced his thoughts.

"You really can't guess?" Will snorted.

Both teens shook their heads. Will just laughed at their innocence.

"You're from Sue's old school. You're special. There will always be a little more focus on you." Emma explained quietly. "The governor knows you personally. She even mentioned you in some of her speeches."

"She did?"

"Yes, she keeps saying how very proud she is of you guys."

The two tributes were at a loss for words and gaped at the adults.

"Let me ask you something." Will said. "What do all the other tributes have in common?"

"I don't know." they both mumbled.

"Think!"

"They're stronger than us?"

"All of them are the star performers of their choirs. The lead singers. The best dancers."

Kurt and Santana went through the list of tributes in their heads and realized the man was right.

"But…"

"But why you? Why not Rachel and Finn?" Will continued their train of thought, his voice sounding angry.

The teens only managed to nod.

"We think Sue chose you personally." Emma said.

"But I wasn't chosen!" Santana yelled jumping up. "They didn't draw my name! They drew Brittany...they…"

The girl's eyes widened at the horror of the realization.

"They knew I would volunteer." she continued, her voice barely audible as she sat back down.

"It makes such a wonderful story." Emma said, her tone unusually bitter.

"I still don't understand why." Kurt said, shaking his head.

"We think she likes you. You're her favorites."

"But she's killing us!"

"No. In her mind she is making you immortal."

The screen came alive at that very moment and Sue Sylvester's face smiled at them as she personally introduced the McKinley tributes. Both teens were too stunned to even notice. They just sat there, eyes on the screen, but their minds were too busy to take in the interviews.

Hours later Kurt still lay awake, not being able to comprehend what was happening. Sue Sylvester had chosen him to send to certain death. He knew he was not going to be able to sleep tonight. He got up and tiptoed into the hall, maybe he could go and see if Santana was still awake as well.

He ran into Karofsky in the hall. The bigger boy giving him a questioning look.

"I can't sleep." Kurt explained.

The servant nodded and motioned for him to go back to bed, a few minutes later he brought him a warm glass of milk.

"Thanks." Kurt replied.

He looked at Dave and opened his mouth, not sure what he was going to say, maybe that he was sorry for what had happened to him - to both of them - but before he could say anything the other boy disappeared back into the hall.

Kurt sighed and slowly sipped his milk. Two hours later he was still awake. He tried the hallway again, this time he found it empty. It was too late now to go and check on Santana. Without even knowing where he was heading to he stepped into the elevator. He did not want to go downstairs, because he did not want to run into anyone. He pressed the button for the roof, hoping to be able to catch some fresh air.

Kurt was surprised to see the doors open to the helicopter platform. There were no guards, maybe because there was no helicopter to protect. Then he noticed the lone figure standing near the edge. It was Blaine. He slowly approached the other boy as not to startle him.

"Hey." he said.

"Hey." the other boy replied with a shy smile.

They were both blushing, standing there looking at each other in their pajamas.

"I just needed some fresh air."

"Me too."

"Feels like we're caged in here."

"Doesn't just feel like it." Blaine said, pointing at the nets surrounding the roof.

They would not even be able to jump. Kurt also remembered not being able to open any windows and the guards that were always surrounding them on the ground floors.

"I thought warblers are used to cages." he said instead.

"Prettier cages than these though." Blaine smiled. "If I could choose my cage it would definitely be something fancier.. like a Burberry theme."

Kurt giggled and it felt wonderful.

They sat down and began talking. They talked about their fears, their families at home - Kurt learned Blaine was an only child and his parents were politicians who did not want to anger the governor. They talked about their friends, their glee clubs, about music. They even dared to sing a little. It all felt amazingly normal.

But then the sun rose and they had to get back to their rooms to prepare for the last day they had left before entering the arena. When Kurt stepped out of the elevator he felt Blaine reach for his hand, his mouth opened, but before he could say anything the doors closed and Kurt was left alone.

The first half of the day was spent in training, only this time they trained separated from the other tributes and were allowed to show their strengths and talents. Kurt wielded his knives like a true ninja.

The judges who were watching him did not seem to be very impressed though. They were talking to each other and some of them even began to eat. Kurt felt anger rise inside of him. Could they not show him just a little respect? When a woman gave a particularly annoying laugh to something her neighbor had said and then raised an apple to her mouth, the blue-eyed boy lost it. He threw his knife, cutting the apple right in half without ever hurting the woman. She still began screaming hysterically and Kurt was removed from the room long before she calmed down. He decided to better not tell Will about this. He told Santana who grinned and told him it was the first time she was proud to be teamed up with him.

They both laughed, but then sobered as they realized that there would not be a team in the arena, they would soon be on their own.

In the afternoon they were prepped for the big evening show. They got to have baths and facials. And they finally got to wear something other than the hideous track suits they had been forced to wear all week. Santana wore a beautiful red dress, while Kurt chose a pair of dark skinny jeans, white shirt and black vest.

"Stop sucking up to Schuester, Hummel!" Santana joked when she saw him.

They were taken to what looked like a theater, where the tributes were ushered to take seats in the front row. Kurt tried to look for Blaine but he was sitting too far on the other end to make any contact.

They suffered through several political speeches and a particularly sickening one from Sue Sylvester. Then the tributes were called on stage, one by one, to answer questions people had sent in via twitter. Of course the two New Directions members were again scheduled to go last.

When Blaine got up on stage Kurt's breath hitched, the boy was wearing his Dalton uniform, curls gelled back, and he looked very handsome.

The host asked several random questions, none particularly interesting, until he came to the twitter questions.

"Blaine, many girls out there have written us to find out if a handsome boy like you has a love interest rooting for him back home?"

The boy took a deep breath and licked his lips.

"No, not at home." he said, searching the front row until his eyes landed on Kurt.

The blue-eyed boy held his breath.

"Would you care to explain to us, Blaine?" the host continued in a confused tone.

Blaine locked eyes with Kurt before he continued.

"There is a moment, when you say to yourself 'Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you forever'. I had that moment here, watching one of the other tributes."

"Oh! You mean we have a tragic love story in these games?" the host was beyond excited, as Blaine nodded. "Care to give us a name?"

'Not me! Not me!' Kurt chanted in his mind, while unable to break eye contact with the Dalton Boy.

"His name is Kurt Hummel." Blaine said calmly. "You move me, Kurt."

All eyes and cameras turned to the boy blushing uncontrollably in the front row.


	6. Chapter 6

_Again: Sorry for the long wait!_

* * *

><p>Kurt lay in bed trying hard to force himself to finally fall asleep. He knew he would need all his strength the next day, but every time he found himself close to the blissful unconsciousness it was like his personified embarrassment and shame kept shaking him awake.<p>

"Kurt!" the voice in his head whispered "Hey Kurt? Remember that time the beautiful Dalton tribute declared his love for you? In front of hundreds of people in that theatre? And probably millions in front of their television screens?"

The boy groaned and tried to hide away from his own mind under the soft pillow.

"Remember how you blushed so hard under their curious gazes? All of them wondering what that hot guy could possibly see in you? Remember the looks Mr. Shue, Ms. Pillsbury and Santana gave you?"

Kurt rolled around on the large bed.

"Remember how you were called up on stage when it was your turn? When that host asked you if you shared the warbler's feelings? How you made a fool of yourself by stuttering and blushing and not being able to produce a single intelligent statement?"

The boy made a frustrated sound and kicked away the sheets. He got up and went to his small bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face and then leaned on the sink as he locked eyes with his own reflection.

"How could you do this to me?" he whispered, not knowing if he was talking to himself or Blaine or Sue Sylvester.

He did not know what to think anymore. This might very well be the last night of his life. There was a rather big possibility that he would be killed in the arena the next day. Murdered for the personal entertainment of the governor and millions of excited viewers. He would never see his family again, never again go shopping with Mercedes and Tina. He would never be able to hug his father and thank him for all the things he did for him. Never hear the man's gruff voice again.

And here he was, wondering about a boy he hardly knew and if this boys' feelings were sincere or just a clever plot to make himself interesting to the people following the games.

Will Schuester had told them all about the different tactics the tributes would use to survive the games. It was not all about hiding and fighting. There were other important survival skills. If the viewers liked you they could send you presents to support you, food or even weapons. And there was nothing that viewers liked more than a love story. And if he wanted to or not, Kurt was already part of a love story, his and Blaine's interviews had been on repeat all night, every scene of them together during the training sessions was being analyzed. There even was some blurry footage of them together on the roof.

He groaned as he went back to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. He ran his fingers through his hair, not even caring about messing it up. Suddenly he jumped up and made his way to the door. He had to find Blaine. He had to talk to the boy and find out what his true intentions were. If nothing else he had to look into those beautiful eyes again.

He opened his door and stepped into the hallway. There was a guard by the elevator tonight, no way for him to leave this floor. Dave Karofsky had been sitting on a chair close to his door and now got up and motioned for him to return to bed. Kurt sighed and turned around. He dropped onto his bed and muffled a scream with the pillow.

He turned around when he heard the door click and saw Karofsky entering with a glass of warm milk. He handed it to Kurt, who tried to smile but only managed a grimace.

Instead of leaving like he had the night before, Dave sat down next to him, looking concerned. Kurt was sure that the boy was not allowed to sit on the bed and was probably risking his own life right now, but he was grateful for the company.

"I bet you saw all that embarrassing footage on television." the smaller boy said. "I looked like a proper fool, huh?"

Karofsky did not react and Kurt wondered if maybe he really had not seen it. Was an Avox even allowed to watch television? Probably not, but he could have been serving someone who was at that time.

"They're making me out to be this love-struck little kid. Like a damsel in distress." he continued. "I'm not a girl!"

Karofsky made a huffing sound and Kurt wondered if the boy was actually laughing at him. He knew that if anyone knew he was not a girl it was the former football player. He raised his eye and for the first time since he had been taken to the hotel risked to really openly look at the taller boy, trying to read his face.

"Why did you kiss me?" he suddenly blurted out, the words leaving his mouth before his brain could catch up.

Karofsky looked up and for the first time since the boy had become a servant their eyes locked. Kurt knew they both had other worries right now, they were both damned, but he just had to know. He had to know if a boy could honestly be attracted to him.

Karofsky raised his hand and Kurt was surprised he did not flinch, he did not fear the boy anymore, he held his breath to find out what the boy was going to do. Dave slowly reached for Kurt's face, gently tracing his callused fingers along the pale boy's cheekbone. His eyes were filled with sadness, but he smiled. Then he got up and left the room, not once turning around.

Kurt suddenly felt very exhausted and crawled under the covers to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

He was woken up by Will Schuester shaking him.

"Get up, Kurt. It's time."

Kurt looked up at the man and gulped. Suddenly the fear hit him like a ton of bricks. It was time. He would be going into the arena. He would die. No matter what Blaine felt for him or not, they were both doomed. He dragged himself into the shower and got ready. At breakfast both he and Santana poked at their food, but much to Emma's disappointment were not able to eat anything.

They were separated and prepped for the rest of the day. New haircuts, facials and other beauty programs, anything to make sure they stayed pretty while fighting to death for as long as possible. The girls doing Kurt's hair and make up kept up an excited chatter about him and Blaine, how romantic it all was and how many girls out there were envying him right now.

"Yeah, I bet they'd all love to die in my place." he whispered sarcastically. The girls pretended to not have heard him, but shut up for the rest of their time together.

Kurt had one last session with Will Schuester who kept warning him to stay away from the Vocal Adrenaline tributes and their friends. They seemed to have formed a strong group of allies and Will expected them to start hunting the weaker tributes from the very beginning.

"Run for cover as soon as the signal sounds. Hide. Don't risk anything. But if you want people to favor you, try and play on that love story. Maybe whisper his name from time to time or something."

Kurt just raised an eyebrow at that statement, he was not going to play any more games than necessary. He wanted to stay true to himself and make his family proud.

When he was reunited with Santana he took her hand wordlessly and she squeezed it firmly. He looked up to see tears in her eyes.

"Good luck." he whispered.

"Good luck to you, too." she replied.

They hugged and held on to each other, forgetting about time, finding what little consolation they could get from each other. Finally they were ushered to the cars. The drive took much longer than they had expected, for some reason Kurt had believed the arena would be close to their hotel, but the journey took them several hours. Were they even in Ohio anymore?

They were taken underground and walked through a tunnel system until they finally entered a large room. There was a circle of small platforms, just big enough for one person to stand on each. A guard turned up to give them instructions.

"When I give you the signal you step onto the platform with your name on it. The platforms will rise up to the arena. You get one minute to take in your surroundings. Do not step off your platform before the countdown ends, there are mines everywhere and they will go off if you do."

Some of the tributes looked scared. Kurt searched their faces but stopped when he found Blaine, looking at him with an unreadable expression.

"There is a Cornucopia in the center of the arena, it contains food and weapons, you may try and grab as much as you can."

Some of the tributes exchanged glances. They knew only the strongest would be able to get anything.

"Now step onto your platform."

Kurt gave Santana one last hug and walked over to his platform, his shoulders had never felt this heavy before. Before he could step onto his platform he was stopped by someone taking his hand. He turned around and gasped when he saw Blaine.

"Good luck." the Dalton boy whispered before leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to Kurt's lips.

"Platforms! Now!" the guard barked and before Kurt realized what had happened he was alone and stepping onto his platform.

His lips were tingling and he felt dizzy as he noticed the platform moving upwards. He gave a panicked look towards Santana who gave him a teary smile. Suddenly the ceiling opened and they were lifted into the arena.

Everything felt far too bright. The sun was scorching even though it was late in the evening and Kurt could not help but wonder if the large cornucopia in front of him held some kind of sun screen. The large horn was filled with weapons, glinting in the sun, food and small and large bags of different shapes that could very well be holding anything.

Kurt looked around. There was a forest located to his right, something that looked like a cliff in front of them behind the cornucopia, a vast field of high grass on the left and a lake behind them. Kurt knew the lake might be important, finding water should be his biggest concern. He looked to Santana again, who was taking in the surroundings much like he was, finally settling her gaze on the forest. The boy agreed that this would be the safest option.

He could not help but look at Blaine. The curly haired boy had his eyes sat firmly on the cornucopia. Kurt looked at it again, discovering a pair of sais right at the top. His heart gave leap. He knew those were there for him. He looked at Blaine again, the other boy meeting his eyes and giving the tiniest shake of his head.

"Too dangerous." he seemed to say.

Then the countdown for the last seconds sounded.

TEN

NINE

EIGHT

SEVEN

SIX

FIVE

FOUR

THREE

TWO

ONE

Their was a loud bang, like a canon being fired and suddenly everything was set in motion.

Santana darted past Kurt and disappeared in the forest before the boy could even blink. The Haverbrook tributes grabbed some bags lying close to them and ran over the edge of the cliff, leaving everyone to wonder what was beyond. Most of the other tributes ran to the cornucopia and the battle begun.

Kurt still had not moved from his platform when the first boy fell with a knife in his back. He gasped looking around, seeing the big Carmel boy cut a young, red-haired girls' throat without blinking an eye.

Kurt took a deep breath, knowing he had to move. He ran towards the cornucopia, his eyes set on the sai swords when he was suddenly pushed to the ground.

"NO!" Blaine yelled angrily looking down at him. "RUN!"

Kurt blinked, but Blaine had already moved away, fighting his way towards a crossbow that rested near the bottom of the horn. He got up and grabbed a small backpack lying close to him and dashed to the trees, leaving Blaine and the fight behind him.

He ran for what felt like hours, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Had he really just witnessed murder? Where had Santana run to? And had Blaine just saved his life? And where was Blaine now? Did he make it out of the fight? Or had he been killed trying to reach the crossbow? Kurt's mind was racing. He finally stopped when he just could not breathe anymore. He dropped to his knees trying to gulp in as much air as possibly.

"Calm down." he told himself. "You need to calm down."

When he got his breathing down to a normal rate he decided to have a look through the items in his backpack. The sun was setting already and he would have to find cover soon. He was glad to find a sleeping bag, some rope, a knife, a small water bottle and some crackers. He opened the bottle and allowed himself two sips. Better start rationing right away. Who knew when he would be able to find water again, it did not look like rain and returning to the lake would be far too dangerous.

It was getting dark and Kurt decided to find a place to sleep. He did not feel safe on the ground so he eyed up a large tree. He had never been the type of child that would climb trees, but this could not be much harder than climbing the scaffolding in the back of his father's garage, right?

He swung himself up a low branch and climbed up from there. He chuckled at how easy and naturally it felt to him. He finally settled on a very thick branch. He snuggled into the sleeping bag and tied himself to the branch with the rope. Better safe than sorry.

He finally allowed his mind to think about the events of the day. He tried not to dwell on the murders he had witnessed, but knew he would never forget the faces of the teens he had watched lose their lives.

He felt guilty that their deaths were not what occupied his thoughts the most. It was Blaine's kiss, the feel of the boy's soft lips against his. Kurt touched his lips, they still tingled. He fell asleep wondering if Blaine was thinking about him as well.

Kurt woke up with a start. The sound of a canon had ripped him out of his sleep.

Oh right - every night they would announce the deaths of tributes like this.

Kurt looked up through the thick branches of his tree and saw the projection in the sky. It was the face of the boy that had been killed by the knife, so he had not missed anything yet. The young, red-haired girl followed and then five more faces. Seven - they had already lost seven tributes during the first day. Kurt was glad that Santana's, Blaine's and even Sunshine's faces were not among them. He shed a few tears thinking about how relieved his family must be that he was still alive. He missed them so much.

He was wondering what his family was doing and were Santana might be hiding when he heard a noise from below. Kurt held his breath when he heard another noise and then suddenly light flared up right beneath him. He peaked through the branches and leafs on his tree, surprised to see that somebody had started a fire right below him.

How stupid can someone be? He wondered. Don't they know that a fire is going to attract the others? The stronger tributes, the ones that had formed a group and would surely be hunting them. Kurt moved a little along his branch, trying to see who had set up camp under his tree. He gasped when he realized it was no other but Sunshine Corazon.

Kurt was surprised to see her on her own. So the girl had not joined the elite group? She was from Carmel so they would have surely offered, right? And who would have thought that the petite girl knew how to start a fire. He had never really known her all that well because she had left McKinley before they even met. But he admired her talent and respected her.

Kurt was debating climbing down to talk to the girl when he heard another noise. Someone was approaching their location, the fire surely leading them here. Kurt cursed the small girl for giving away his hiding place when a knife flew through the trees below him and hit Sunshine right in the chest.

The girl screamed and Kurt felt the urge to help her but was unable to move or even breathe as a group of people broke through the trees and approached her.

"Hello Sunshine." a voice rang out. It was the other Carmel tribute, the others stayed in the darkness, but Kurt thought there was at least three more of them.

The girl on the ground made a strangled noise, knowing she was already so badly hurt that fighting or running was not an option.

"I bet you regret not joining us now." the boy said.

Sunshine made a gargling noise that to Kurt almost sounded like laughing. Before he could even blink the group was upon her. They were hitting and kicking and by the sound of it stabbing her tiny body. Kurt was frozen in place. The terrible scene seemed to be lasting for hours.

"Is she dead?" a voice finally asked.

"Yeah. Let's move on." someone replied.

The group moved away from the dead girl and her fire, but before they disappeared back into the darkness one of them turned around to look at her one more time.

Kurt choked on a broken scream. It was Blaine.


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry for the long wait!_

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><p>As Blaine walked off Kurt was frozen in place by shock. This could not be happening; he did not just see that. It was a trick, it had to be. Blaine would not do that! Or would he? What did Kurt even know about the handsome Dalton boy? His mind was racing, blood rushing through his veins, his own heartbeat sounding like a drum in his ears. Then suddenly there was another noise, a short ring of an alarm.<p>

"The signal." Kurt thought. "They're coming to collect the body."

At the training center they had been told to leave the site of a death when they heard this sound. Guards would be coming to collect the dead and any living tribute present would be punished. Kurt tried to think but he could not remember the perimeter he was not allowed to be in. Was it twenty feet? And how high up was he in the tree?

He shook his head. He had to leave. He had to leave right now. He untied himself from the thick branch, grabbed his belongings and swung down the tree as fast as he could without actually falling. As his feet hit the soft forest ground he turned and looked at the crumpled body near the remains of what had been the fire, the dust from the fight must have extinguished it. She looked so tiny. He could not just walk away. Kurt moved closer and looked at the small body, he winced at seeing all the blood and bruises covering the girl, but what seemed even worse was seeing her small face framed by her childish pigtails, reminding him that they were just children, forced into this arena to kill each other. Kurt knelt down next to her, he righted her glasses, which had half-slipped of her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered.

He looked down and noticed her tiny hand clutching something. He reached for it; it was a lighter, not unlike the one he had seen Puck nervously play with during class when he was craving another cigarette. A lighter could just be a life saver out here. The second signal sounded, closer and more urgent, a final warning. He grabbed the lighter and ran off. He ran into the opposite direction of where Blaine had disappeared to.

He ran for what felt like hours. Running meant he had to concentrate on where his feet went, being careful about not tripping over roots and taking in as much of his surroundings as the darkness allowed. Running meant not being able to think about Blaine and about the bloody remains of Sunshine Corazon.

He ran until his legs just would not support him anymore and he stumbled to the ground. He crawled over to a tree, resting his back against the trunk and finally allowed himself to cry. He cried in heart wrenching sobs, he cried for all of them, he cried until the sun rose up.

High up in the trees birds began to sing, it was a beautiful little melody and Kurt wondered if this was why his Dad always talked about camping like it was one of the greatest things one could experience. Burt Hummel had only taken his son camping once, it had lasted exactly one hour. The first minute they had arrived at their camping space Kurt had looked around and placed his hands on his hips, he had looked at his father with one eyebrow raised as high has it could go.

"Where are the restrooms?" the little boy had asked.

"No restrooms, kiddo. If you got to go, you just go." the man had chuckled and pointed towards some bushes.

Kurt had screamed bloody murder for fifty-nine minutes, until Burt finally had enough, threw the small boy over his shoulder and carried him back to the car. They had gone home and had a tea party in their garden, the table had mysteriously already been prepared by Kurt's mother.

The teen smiled at the memory and then had to wipe a couple of fresh tears away. He missed his family so much, he wondered what they were doing, were they watching him now? He did not want them to see him cry, he wanted to make them proud and that was what made him get back up on his feet. He had to move, he needed to find a source of water and food.

Kurt walked for hours, even through the trees he could feel the sun scorch his pale skin. He was thirsty, but there was almost no water left in his little bottle and he did not want to give in just yet. He wondered what would happen if he just kept on walking in one direction. The arena could not be infinite. Would he come across a fence? A wall? Some kind of border? Or would he just be able to keep on walking until he was back in Lima? No, not that surely.

There was no water. Kurt was in pain, his tongue felt parched and heavy, he just could not move anymore. He would have to return to the lake if he wanted to live. He knew that was at least a day of walking through the woods away. The lake - where the others were sure to be waiting.

Blaine. Suddenly he could not prevent himself from thinking about the other boy. Blaine would be at the lake, he would be there with the other elite school tributes. The other murderers. Was Blaine a murderer? Kurt still refused to believe it, but even if the Dalton boy had not stabbed Sunshine personally, he had allowed it to happen, he had been there, Kurt had seen him. But why? Kurt tried to remember if he had ever seen Blaine talk to the elites at the training camp, but he could not remember anything.

It was getting late and Kurt was exhausted and dehydrated, he decided to rest. The sun went down and the temperature dropped quickly. He shivered. He chose a large tree, nowhere near any clearings, he could not risk a repeat of last night's events. He climbed up high and strapped himself to a thick branch. He allowed himself to slowly sip the rest of the water. If he did not find a new source tomorrow he was doomed. The projection of the day's dead started soon after he had settled in. Sunshine's face and those of four other tributes Kurt did not really know illuminated the sky. So that meant twelve had died. Eleven left to go. Santana and Blaine were both still out there.

It was a restless night, Kurt was cold, thirsty and starving, but worst of all was reliving that last glimpse he caught of Blaine over and over again. He got up early, deciding to move before the sun began to scorch. He stopped to pee behind a very thick bush, almost giggling at the thought of his father commenting on how his son still cared so much about his privacy, even in the face of death, but quickly frowned when he noticed that what little urine he was able to pass was of a dangerously dark color. He needed water and he needed it soon.

"Damn it, Shue." Kurt cursed his former teacher. He knew the man would be able to send him some water if he chose to. He must have some sponsors, right? Or maybe nobody wanted to sponsor the weird gay kid who had so far done nothing interesting at all in the arena.

He sighed and moved on. He needed to get back to the lake and he was sure he was not the only one. He was bound to run into some other tributes and that meant fighting and he just was not prepared for that. Hell, he was not even sure if he was moving in the right direction.

At the end of the day Kurt was close to becoming paranoid. He kept hearing noises and was convinced some other tribute was following, or more likely hunting him, but every time he looked around there was no one there.

"Great. Now I'm losing my mind."

Why did not Mr. Shue send him some water? He must be able to tell how serious the situation had become! Or was he sending it all to Santana? If Kurt were a sponsor his bet would be on the latina instead of himself, could he blame others for thinking the same way?

The vegetation was thinning, so he hoped he was still moving towards the lake. He stumbled over a root and cursed under his breath. Damn, he hated the outdoors, how was he supposed to survive out here?

He stood still for a second, trying to regain his breath and sense of balance when he heard them, there were voices right behind him and even laughter. He turned around and saw the elite pack move towards him.

"Hey fag!" the tall Carmel boy yelled. "Ready to die?"

Kurt just looked at the group. Blaine was in the back, but he was there, not making eye contact with him.

For a second Kurt was frozen in place, gaping at the others, then he felt a rush of air and when he turned noticed that a knife had just missed him by an inch. Suddenly he regained the control over his body. He turned around and ran, but he knew he would not be able to outrun them, there was no way he would be faster than all of them. He would not be able to fight them either, there was more of them and they had weapons, not just one little knife like he did.

Another weapon missed him and hit the trunk of a tree. It was a sai. Kurt gasped and grabbed it, pulling it from the tree. He heard an angry howl from the girl tribute and could not help but grin. She was surely going to miss this! But he still had the sense not to fight them, there was only one thing he could do now, only one thing he was better at.

Kurt began to climb the tree.

When the others reached the tree he was already too far up for them to grab him and he just kept climbing higher and higher. Weapons were thrown, but missed and soon he was too high for them to even get close.

"Think you can get away from us?" The tall boy yelled. "Well, think again! You're about to die, Hummel!"

The boy managed to climb up a few feet but then the branch he was on snapped under his weight and he landed on his ass.

"Ha! Ha!" Kurt just could not help but laugh.

The girl tribute tried next, but she just was not any good at climbing and gave up soon.

"Oh, come on, darling! Bring me my other sai!" Kurt taunted.

The girl glared at him, shouting some insults in reply, Kurt could only roll his eyes at her lack of creativity.

They wanted Blaine to try next, but the boy said something Kurt could not make out and shook his head. In the end they began to settle under the tree, lighting a fire.

"We can wait, fairy boy! You will have to come down sooner or later!"

Kurt bit his lip, knowing they were right. He still could not let them know they got to him though.

"Don't you know fairies can do magic?" he yelled back.

They kept shouting insults back and force for a while but soon Kurt had to stop because he kept coughing. The idiots had thrown some damp branches into the fire and the smoke kept choking him. Still he hoped damp wood meant that water was near.

He climbed another foot higher and finally crawled into his sleeping back and strapped himself to the branch. Suddenly he noticed something moving in the next tree. He tried to take a better look, but the smoke was too thick. He decided that his mind was playing a trick on him, but just as he was about to lay down something hit him straight in the forehead.

"Ouch." he swore, looking at the offending object which had landed in his lap.

It was a chestnut. Kurt stared at it rather dumbfounded. Was he being attacked by squirrels? Another chestnut hit him right on the nose. Ouch! These squirrels sure knew how to aim.

"What the…"

The boy looked up and gasped. Sitting high in the other tree was Santana.

Kurt smiled and almost cheered, but was stopped by the girl quickly putting a finger to her pretty lips and asking him to stay silent. The boy chose to clasp his hands together and beam at his friend instead. He had been so lonely during these last few days, it felt wonderful to see a familiar and friendly face.

Santana smiled back, feeling very much the same. Then her expression turned serious and she pointed to something above the boy's head. Kurt looked up, squinting his tired eyes to see in the dark. Hanging only about a foot above his head was a nest. He did not know if it was wasps or bees, but he knew for sure that it was not good. Knowing Sue Sylvester it was probably a very aggressive insect of some kind that she had place here on purpose.

Kurt looked back down to the group of tributes that had settled down next to their fire. Most of them had already gone to sleep and he could no longer tell which one was Blaine.

"Think, Kurt. Think!" he kept telling himself.

He could use that nest as a weapon. Maybe if he dropped it down the others would be distracted long enough for him and Santana to flee. He looked back up. He knew it would not be wise to touch the nest itself, but it was hanging from a fairly thin branch, so he might be able to saw through it. He pulled his little knife from his bag, knowing the sai would not be able to do the deed and he really did not want to risk losing it. He held up the knife for Santana. The girl gave him a nod and he began to climb again.

When he reached the branch with the nest Kurt held his breath.

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><p><em>AN: Sorry for the long wait and filler chapter. I'm really not good at having my characters not interact with anyone. I Promise to post the next chapter soon.<em>


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